Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He first gained international recognition by releasing remixes of songs by Jack Ü and Zedd, and released his debut studio album, Joytime, in early 2016. In May 2016, he released "Alone" through record label Monstercat, which appeared on the US Billboard Hot 100, and became his first single to be certified platinum in the US and Canada.

Career

2015: Early career

On March 3, 2015, Marshmello posted his first original song "Wavez" on his SoundCloud page.[4] As he released more songs, he began to receive support from established and well-known DJs like Skrillex who reposted his song "Find Me" on his SoundCloud page.[5] Shortly after, Marshmello performed at New York's Pier 94, Pomona, California's HARD Day of the Dead festival, and Miami Music Week. In 2016, Marshmello released a compilation of his previously released tracks, Joytime, which reached number five on the US BillboardDance/Electronic Albums chart. Included on the album was the single "Keep It Mello", featuring rapper Omar LinX. He is managed by Moe Shalizi of Red Light Management, who also manages artists such as Jauz, Ookay and Slushii.[6]

Prior to the revelation of Marshmello's identity, it was frequently suggested that Marshmello was American DJ Chris Comstock, also known as Dotcom, whose style is similar to Marshmello's. Skrillex once referred to Marshmello as "Chris" in an interview. In addition, both Dotcom and Marshmello are managed by Moe Shalizi, and allegedly have the same tattoo and birthday.[7][8]

2016: Joytime

Marshmello performing at VELD 2016

On January 8, 2016, Marshmello released his debut album Joytime, consisting of 10 tracks, through his own label Joytime Collective.[9] One single was released from the album, titled "Keep It Mello", featuring rapper Omar LinX.[10] The album peaked number five on Billboard's electronic/dance albums chart.[11]

Marshmello debuted on Monstercat with his song "Alone", which appeared on the compilation album Monstercat 027 – Cataclysm.[12] On June 3, 2016, it was announced that there would be a remix contest for "Alone".[13] The winner would have their remix released by Monstercat and a chance to play an opening DJ set at Camp Bisco.[14] It was later announced that future house duo MRVLZ had won the contest.[15]
On July 2, 2016, he released the music video for Alone on his YouTube channel which has racked up over 1.03 billion views as of November 2018, easily making it the label's most successful release.[16]

On June 19, 2016, Marshmello performed at Electric Daisy Carnival 2016 in Las Vegas where Dutch DJ Tiësto, who wore the same clothes as Marshmello, showed up on stage and took off his helmet assuming to be Marshmello.[17] It was later disregarded as a publicity stunt by fans and the media due to their conflicting tour dates and a photo of "the two helmeted DJs hanging out together pre-show".[18][19][20]

On August 20, 2016, Marshmello announced the Ritual Tour on Twitter, on which he performed in several countries including the United States, China, South Korea, India and Paraguay from September 30, 2016 until January 21, 2017.[21][22]

On October 27, 2016, he debuted on Skrillex's OWSLA label with a single titled "Ritual" featuring American singer-songwriter Wrabel.[23][24] An official music video was uploaded to Marshmello's YouTube channel.[25] He started his own record label Joytime Collective and signed Slushii as the first artist.[26]

2017

Identity clues and gimmick

On March 4, 2017, Feed Me posted an Instagram story of Dotcom in Marshmello's costume and another person with Marshmello's helmet.[27]

On July 8, 2017, Indian actress Urvashi Rautela posted a picture of her, Chris Comstock, Maejor and Moe Shalizi on Instagram, claiming Comstock to be Marshmello in her picture by tagging Marshmello instead of Comstock's personal account or other alias Dotcom.[28]

Comstock was credited as the only songwriter other than featured vocalist, Khalid, by ASCAP for Marshmello's song "Silence".[29]

Collaborations and Forbes list

Marshmello collaborated with Ookay to release the single "Chasing Colors" featuring vocals by Noah Cyrus.[30][31][32] He later collaborated with Slushii to release the single "Twinbow", which was previously 'teased' by the duo.[33][34] On May 5, 2017, his third single of the year titled "Moving On" was released.[35] Marshmello debuted the song in 2015, two years before it received an official release.[36] A music video for the song was also released.[37] On July 8, 2017, Marshmello announced an upcoming collaboration with American hip hop recording artist blackbear on social media.[38] A song with singer Demi Lovato, titled "Love Don't Let Me Go", co-written by Louis Bell, Brian Lee, Ali Tamposi and Andrew Watt, was also announced as Marshmello previewed a demo of the song at Coachella 2017.[39][40][41]

On July 28, 2017, Marshmello released a song titled "Love U" for free as appreciation to his fans.[42]

Marshmello earned $21 million in the 12 months prior to June 2017 and was named in Forbes' annual ranking of the world's highest-paid DJs.[29] He announced on Twitter, a single with singer Khalid titled "Silence", which was released on August 11, 2017.[43] This song was featured on Worldhit and marked the Top 200 in over 28 countries.[44] On October 25, 2017, he released his collaboration with Selena Gomez, the single "Wolves"[45] which was a commercial success, reaching the top 10 in more than 20 countries.

On October 20, 2017, Marshmello released the single "You & Me" through his label Joytime Collective.[46] An official music video made up of animation, produced and directed by Toon53, was released three weeks later on his YouTube channel, garnering over 35 million views as of July 21, 2018.[47]

Confirmation of identity

In November 2017, Marshmello's identity was confirmed by Forbes as to being Christopher Comstock, an American DJ who is also known as Dotcom, with regards to existing proofs such as his real name being revealed in music royalty manager BMI's database and that Marshmello's company was registered in August 2015 under the name "Christopher Comstock" in Delaware. Furthermore, it was also disclosed to Forbes by industry insiders that the two are the same person. Previously-known evidences such as the ASCAP credit, their physical and musical similarities, and Skrillex addressing Marshmello as "Chris" were taken into account.[48]

2018–present: Recent singles and Joytime II

Marshmello performing at Airbeat One 2018

In January 2018, Marshmello officially released a collaboration with the late rapper, Lil Peep, titled "Spotlight". Marshmello initially had no plans to release the single until he spoke with Peep's mother, who requested as much of her son's unpublished music be released as possible.[49] On February 2, 2018, another collaboration between Slushii and Marshmello, "There ×2" was released as a single through the label Slushii.[50] On February 9, 2018, Marshmello released a collaboration with British singer Anne-Marie named "Friends", as the fifth single from Anne-Marie's debut studio album, Speak Your Mind. On March 2, 2018, a collaboration with rapper Logic titled "Everyday" was released as the third single from his seventh mixtape, Bobby Tarantino II.[51] On May 4, 2018, Marshmello released a collaborative single with American rapper Juicy J and British singer James Arthur titled "You Can Cry".

On May 18, 2018, Marshmello announced on Twitter his second studio album titled Joytime II, a follow-up which was released on June 22, 2018.[52] On June 7, 2018, he released the first single for the album titled "Tell Me".[53] On June 15, 2018, he released the second single for the album titled "Check This Out".[54] The music video was released on October 17.[55]

On August 16, 2018, he released a collaboration with British indie pop band, Bastille titled "Happier".[56] On September 28, 2018, he released a collaboration with the Egyptian singer-songwriter Amr Diab titled "Bayen Habeit".[57]

Style

Appearance

Marshmello wears a custom helmet for public appearances. His identity was unknown, but was confirmed in late 2017 by Forbes.[8]

Marshmello's stage name, an alternative spelling of "marshmallow", and his marshmallow mascot head were both inspired by Canadian electronic music producer Deadmau5, who also notably uses an alternate spelling for his stage name and performs wearing a "dead mouse" mascot head.[58] Acknowledgement of Deadmau5's contribution to Marshmello's persona is evident in the music video for "Alone", which features Marshmello's pet mouse, Joel (Deadmau5's real name).[59] Marshmello also referenced Deadmau5 with a variant of his helmet (with a third ear) featured in the original edit of "Ritual"'s music video.[60] This was removed at deadmau5's request.[61][62]

While Marshmello's initial identity was not initially confirmed, the most widespread speculation was that he is Chris Comstock, also known as Dotcom.[8][63][64][65][7][8] The speculation was confirmed as true in 2017.[48]

Musical style

His musical style includes groove-oriented, synth and bass-heavy electronic dance music.[7] Inspired by other masked DJs like Deadmau5 and Daft Punk, Marshmello appears wearing a full-head-covering white coloured bucket.[66] Despite the anonymity, his career received international recognition in 2015 when he began releasing tracks online, including remixes of Zedd's "Beautiful Now", Jack Ü's "Where Are Ü Now" and others, as well as his own single "Alone".

Philanthropy and supported causes

Marshmello, together with Fortnite star Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, won one million dollars prize money from Epic's E3 Celebrity Pro Am Charity match.[67] Marshmello donated half a million to KIND (Kids In Need of Defense),[68] an organization who aims to help refugees and immigrant children by providing legal counsel and other supports needed.[69]